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COVID-19: Effect on Higher Education
Introduction
For thousands of years, the only pedagogical approach to the classroom was for the
students to sit in person, face to face with the teacher or professor. A couple hundred
years ago, certain institutions began attempting the first forms of distance learning. It
wasn’t until very recently – the past couple of decades – that alternative class settings
became somewhat ubiquitous in the United States universities. These alternative
options were an entirely internet based phenomenon. Before the novel coronavirus
(COVID-19) there were limited options for the types of courses available. These options
consisted of in-person, online, hybrid traditional, and, very rarely, remote attendance.
Disputes are arising as to whether online classes will remain popular options or if
universities will drop these alternatives as the country recovers from the pandemic. The
cost of online courses is an additional area of debate. Some think money will be saved
taking online courses while others think costs will increase for these same students. A
further question being asked is if the transition between in-person and online classes
can be smoothed by incorporating asynchronous elements into all courses. Indiana
University South Bend, a mostly commuter satellite campus of Indiana University
Bloomington, has offered certain courses online for years. These offerings were limited,
however. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Indiana University South Bend was
forced to offer online learning options for nearly every course and has now adopted
several other course types other than the typical online course, including online
interactive and hybrid distance setups.
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Literature Review
Distance learning involving modern technology may appear to be a new form of learning
that has been developed at the onset of the pandemic; however, according to
Mladenova, Kalmukov, & Valova, it has actually existed for years, but it was mostly at
the scientific level, while most schools had minimal and slow progress towards distance
learning up to this year (Mladenova, Kalmukov, & Valova, 2020). However, the
pandemic has caused a large transition in schools to more quickly adopt and develop
distance learning strategies. Several larger questions have been asked since COVID-19
caused an unavoidable shift to remote learning strategies. One of the largest being: Is
distance learning as effective as traditional in-person learning? Furqua, Fatima, & Awan
have argued that distance learning is as effective as traditional in-person learning, but
the popular “flipped classroom model” often used in distance learning is hindered by
students’ lack of motivation to engage in the material outside of the class meetings
(Furqua, Fatima, & Awan, 2020). This model is where students read or listen to lectures
outside the classroom and then engage in problems and scenarios during meetings with
the professor, so that students can ensure they have an appropriate thought process
and are following a proper procedure while walking through the problems and
scenarios. If they are doing something incorrectly, the professor is there to immediately
clear up any confusion and misunderstandings. Their research suggested that this
model is as effective as traditional learning but can be hindered by students who do not
engage in the text outside of the class time with the professor. Some studies have even
found that distance learning is superior to traditional class settings. One such study
“observed that online learning was better than traditional textbook–based learning”
because “digital learning supports deeper and self–directed learning” (Nalini, 2020).
While there is not universal consensus on the effectiveness of online learning, studies
are finding that online learning and traditional learning are perhaps much more similar
than previously thought.
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With evidence that distance learning is as effective as traditional learning, some have
asked if traditional schooling will return to the same level it was before the novel
coronavirus. The answer is difficult to know. John Ellis argues that there has been a
changing and diminishing perception of the benefits of higher education versus the
rising debt associated with attending traditional universities, and that online education
could be a great opportunity to minimize student debt. However, he also recognized that
traditional campus education is very attractive to young people due to the social
dimension it provides as opposed to online learning (Ellis, 2020). Some people, like
John Ellis above, think online education could be a cheaper alternative to attending
traditional in-person classes, while still providing an equal, quality education. However,
according to Lindsey Downs, a survey performed by the WICHE Cooperative for
Educational Technologies (WCET), which is a national leader in technology-enhanced
learning in higher education, suggests that distance education may cost more than
traditional in-person learning, not less. In this survey, distance education professionals
were asked questions about 21 different components related to developing online
courses. These components were grouped into the four categories of preparing,
teaching, assessing students and supporting faculty and students. According to this
survey, 9 of these 21 components cost more for distance courses than face–to-face
courses, while the other 12 cost about the same. None of these categories cost less for
distance courses. The WCET also made a point of explaining that the goal of distance
education was never to cut costs for attending college, but to reduce the barriers
involved with attending like location and time (Downs, 2020).
Universities also benefit from students living on campuses through auxiliary revenues.
These revenues include things such as bookstores, residence halls, and summer
camps. In 2017, universities earned around 45 billion in auxiliary revenues, but this year
they are estimated to only earn around 30 billion dollars. In addition to universities being
forced to invest in online education tools and other unexpected expenditures, this adds
to the ways that schools are being negatively impacted by the pandemic. (Burki, 2020).
The pandemic is not only affecting universities as a whole, but the individual students as
well. Burki continues to explain that many students will likely put off going to college due
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to the large number of lay-offs and furloughs happening around the country (Burki,
2020). Those already in college are being just as impacted as those looking to begin
their journey in higher education. According to a survey of 1,500 students at Arizona
State University, Aucejo, French, Araya, & Zafar claim that, 13 percent of students have
delayed graduation due to the pandemic. However, the pandemic’s effect on students is
more pronounced among those with lower incomes. Low-income students are 55
percent more likely to delay graduation than higher-income peers. These authors also
claim that “approximately 50% of [their] sample separately reported a decrease in study
hours and in their academic performance. [S]tudents [also] reported that they expect to
take a break from college in the fall 2020 semester at more than twice the rate in
previous years.” In addition, negative health and economic impacts are also more
distinct for lower-income students (Aucejo, French, Araya, & Zafar, 2020).
COVID-19 took the world by storm and caused universities around the globe to quickly
adapt to fully online learning in a very short period of time. Questions about what should
be asked of students and faculty arose quickly. Much of the burden fell on professors to
both adapt their lesson plans and their style of teaching to accommodate online
learning, while also needing to keep students up to date on how the class is going to
transition as well as staying on track with lesson plans. According to a 2019 survey
done by Kenneth Green of The Campus Computing Project, only 11.2% and 14.2% of
classes use audio capture or lecture capture respectively. This lack of experience with
distance learning tools made the spring transition to online learning worse (Green,
2020). A recent survey from the Chronicle of Higher Education stated that “about 60
percent of faculty members, and a similar share of academic administrators, said
spring’s courses were worse than face–to–face offerings” (June, 2020). One study has
shown, however, through data analysis that there was “little difference in performance
when comparing students in an online environment to those learning the same content
in a traditional in-person environment” (Hoffman, 2020). This study was not performed
during the pandemic, though, so the unexpected suddenness of the spring semester
may be responsible for the professors’ feelings.
Taran, Al, Tyler
K301 12/02/2020
However, some courses, according to Meg Fryling, may have been less impacted by
the immediate shift to remote learning, and this is in part due to these classes already
practicing the “Flipped Classroom Model”. This approach may have eased the transition
because it already relies on some of these asynchronous distance education tools and
components like pre-recorded lectures. Students watch these lectures regardless of
there being in-person classes. Then live or in-person classes focus on hands-on
activities and worksheets while the professor is present to walk students through or
answer questions that students may have about the material. This system has the
added benefit of the lecture being available to watch or listen multiple times if a student
is struggling with a topic as opposed to looking at quick notes he or she may have been
able to take during an in person lecture while trying to listen at the same time. According
to Fryling’s survey of 30 respondents in a course that practiced the “flipped classroom
model”, before going fully online in the spring, the students felt evenly mixed between
